1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetanes (referred to as "OXCs", hereinafter). OXCs are oxetane compounds which are capable of being ring-openingly polymerized by themself. Besides, they are useful compounds as intermediates for the production of various oxetane compounds. Thus, the invention belongs to a manufacturing art for chemicals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As for the production of OXCs, a process has been known, in which 1,1-bis(choloromethyl)-1-hydroxymethylpropane or its acetate ester is allowed to react with potassium hydroxide in an alcoholic solvent which may optionally be diluted with water, followed by filtering the isolated inorganic salt off, evaporating the solvent, and vacuum distillation to give 3-choromethyl-3-ethyloxetane. Also, a process has been known, in which the above reaction product is mixed with water to dissolve the inorganic salt, and the mixture is extracted with an organic solvent, followed by evaporation of the organic solvent and vacuum distillation to give 3-chloromethyl-3-ethyloxetane. According to the description of Japanese Patent Publication No. 10342/1964, 3-chloromethyl-3-ethyloxetane can be produced by these processes in 40% to 80% yield.
These processes, however, necessitate a step of filtering the inorganic salt off, or extraction with an organic solvent to obtain the objective product, and also necessitate a step of recovering the alcohol used as the reaction solvent, as well as a step of removing the water formed in the reaction for reuse. Thus, such prior processes are not satisfactory from the commercial points of view.
While, in a process in which the reaction is effected in an aqueous alkali solution, without using any alcoholic solvent, there is no necessity of recovering the alcohol, but this process has some problems in a lower reaction rate as compared with a reaction in an alcoholic solvent, and in needing much more reaction time for a sufficient conversion of the starting material, as well as a lower OXC selectivity.